The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.

                                
                                     [6-text p 448] 
                                  
                                  She schal nouȝt passe xvj ȝer certayn
                                
                                  Old fleissh and ȝong fleissh þat wolde I han ful fayn
                                
                                  Bet is quod he a pyk þan a pykrelle
                                
                                  And bet þan olde beef is þe tendre feelle
                                  Line 1420 
                                
                                  I wol no womman xxti ȝer of age
                                
                                  It nys but benestraw and gret forage
                                
                                  And eek þis olde wydewes god it woot
                                
                                  þey konne so moche craft on wades boot
                                  Line 1424 
                                
                                  So mochil broken harme whan þat hem liste
                                
                                  þat wiþ hem schulde I neuer lyuen in reste
                                
                                  ffor sondry scoles makeþ subtile clerkys
                                
                                  Wommen of many a scole half a clerk is
                                  Line 1428 
                                
                                  But certeinly a ȝong þing may me gye
                                
                                  Right as men may warm wax wiþ handes to-plye
                                
                                  þerfore I sey ȝow pleinly in a clause
                                
                                  I wol non old wijf haue for þis cause
                                  Line 1432 
                                
                                  ffor if so were if I hadde so myschaunce
                                
                                  That I in hire ne couþe han · no plesaunce
                                
                                  þenne scholde I lede my lijf in aduoutrye
                                
                                  And so streyt to þe deuyl whan I dye
                                  Line 1436 
                                
                                  Ne children schulde I non vpon hire geten
                                
                                  ȝit were me leuer houndes hadde me eten
                                
                                  þan þat myn heritage scholde falle
                                
                                  In straunge hande and þus I telle ȝou alle [folio 147a] 
                                  Line 1440 
                                
                                  I dowte nought I wot þe cause why
                                
                                  men schulde wedde and forþermore wot I
                                
                                  þer spekeþ many men of mariage
                                
                                  þat wot nomore of hit þen wot my page
                                  Line 1444 
                                
                                  ffor whiche causes men schulde take a wyf
                                
                                  If he may not chaste be by his lijf
                                
                                  Tak him a wijf wiþ gret deuocioun
                                
                                  By cause of leofful procreacion
                                  Line 1448 
                                
                                  Of children to þe honour of god aboue
                                
                                  And nought only for paramour and for loue
                                
                                  And for þei schulden leccherie eschue
                                
                                  And ȝelde here dette whil þat it is newe

                                  Line 1452

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Title: The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author: Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas: Page 326
Publication: London,: Pub. for the Chaucer society by N. Trübner & co.,; 1868-[1869]

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Collection: Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8235.0001.001
Link to this scan: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8235.0001.001/353:7

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Full citation: "The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8235.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 5, 2025.

The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.

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